Prior art

The US patent 8959146, titled "Media properties selection method and system based on expected profit from profile-based ad delivery," cites a significant number of prior art documents. The core inventive concept of US8959146 revolves around calculating an expected profit from delivering ads based on a collected user profile and then selecting media properties and arranging for a tag to be placed only if this calculated profit is positive. The claims specifically highlight a "condition" for ad display, which, in preferred embodiments, is tied to this profit calculation (e.g., price charged by media property < profile-attribute-dependent price an advertiser is willing to pay).

Below are analyses of some of the most relevant prior art cited by US8959146, focusing on patents that predate its priority date of June 16, 2006, and address the field of online advertising, user profiling, and ad delivery. Due to the extensive number of citations, particularly a large block of Google Inc. applications filed around 2006, a representative selection has been made to highlight distinct contributions to the art.

Most Relevant Prior Art for US8959146

1. US5948061 - Method of delivery, targeting, and measuring advertising over networks

• Full Citation: US5948061 A, Inventor(s): Kevin J. O'Connor, Dwight A. Merriman, Assignee: Doubleclick Inc.
• Publication/Filing Date: Published: September 7, 1999; Filed: March 20, 1997.
• Brief Description: This patent describes a method and system for delivering, targeting, and measuring advertisements over a network, such as the internet. It details compiling statistics on individual users and networks, tracking advertisement usage, and targeting ads to individual users. An advertising server transmits appropriate advertisements based on user and network profiling in response to requests from affiliated sites. This is highly relevant to the background discussion of DoubleClick's "Boomerang" system, which tracks visitors across sites using cookies to serve targeted ads.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent broadly discloses systems for collecting user information (profiling) and delivering targeted ads across networks, a fundamental aspect of US8959146. It likely anticipates the general concepts of:
  • Receiving profile attributes of an electronic visitor (implicitly through compiling statistics).
  • Correlating advertisements with these profile attributes.
  • Displaying advertisements to visitors on a second media property after visiting a first.
    However, US5948061 does not appear to explicitly disclose the condition-based selection of media properties tied to an expected profit calculation (e.g., "price charged by the second media property is less than a profile-attribute-dependent price that an advertiser is willing to pay") as defined in US8959146 claims 2, 18, and 22. Therefore, while it provides a foundational basis for many elements, it may not anticipate the profit-based selection criterion itself.

2. US20040210502A1 - Behaviorally targeted advertising

• Full Citation: US20040210502 A1, Inventor(s): Jonathan D. Shapiro, William M. Gruner, Assignee: Tacoda Inc.
• Publication/Filing Date: Published: October 21, 2004; Filed: April 16, 2003.
• Brief Description: This patent application describes a system and method for behaviorally targeted advertising across multiple websites. It involves collecting and storing user behavioral data, creating user segments based on this data, and then targeting advertisements to users belonging to specific segments when they visit participating websites. It focuses on using aggregated behavioral data to target ads to users identified by anonymous identifiers (e.g., cookies).
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference anticipates elements related to:
  • Collecting profile attributes (behavioral data) of electronic visitors across a first media property (implicitly, as part of collecting behavioral data from various sites).
  • Using this profile information to target advertisements.
  • Delivering ads on a second media property.
    Similar to US5948061, this patent application lays groundwork for behavioral targeting and profile-based ad delivery. However, it does not explicitly describe the "indicia of a condition" that relates to an expected profit being sent to a third-party server, nor the automatic selection of media properties based on this profit criterion, as found in independent claims 1, 17, 21, and further detailed in dependent claims 2, 18, and 22 of US8959146.

3. US7603332B2 - Methods and systems for directing profile-based electronic advertisements to visitors who later visit media properties

• Full Citation: US7603332 B2, Inventor(s): Roy Shkedi, Assignee: Almondnet Inc.
• Publication/Filing Date: Published: October 13, 2009; Filed: June 14, 2006.
• Brief Description: This patent, assigned to Almondnet Inc. (the same assignee as US8959146) and sharing an inventor, was filed just two days before the priority date of US8959146. It describes a method and system for directing profile-based electronic advertisements to visitors who later visit media properties. It involves receiving profile information about a visitor to a first media property and sending this profile information to a server associated with a second media property. This allows the second media property to deliver a correlated advertisement to the visitor. The key distinction from later patents (like US8959146) would likely be the lack of explicit profit-based selection as a central condition.
• Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Given its close filing date, shared assignee, and inventor, this patent is highly relevant. It directly anticipates:
  • Receiving profile information of an electronic visitor to a first media property.
  • Directing information (profile information) to a third-party server computer controlling advertising space on a second media property.
  • Displaying an advertisement to the electronic visitor when visiting the second media property.
  • The advertisement being correlated with the profile attributes.
    However, the abstract and claims of US7603332B2 do not explicitly mention the "indicia of a condition" being directed that relates to an expected profit calculation for the selection of the second media property. US7603332B2 focuses on sending the profile information itself for ad delivery, whereas US8959146 focuses on sending indicia of a condition (derived from a profit calculation) to guide ad placement and selection of media properties. This distinction around the condition and profit-based selection would be the key area for non-anticipation for US8959146 claims 1, 17, 21, and particularly 2, 18, 22.

In summary, earlier patents and applications (like US5948061 and US20040210502A1) establish the general field of behavioral targeting and cross-site ad delivery, but they do not appear to explicitly include the specific "expected profit" calculation as a condition for media property selection and ad delivery as claimed in US8959146. Even the closely related US7603332B2, while covering many aspects of profile-based ad delivery, does not seem to explicitly include the profit-based selection condition. The novelty of US8959146 likely lies in this explicit profit-driven decision-making process for selecting media properties and arranging ad delivery.